Late Night Comfort
by misspatchesmom
Summary: Five-year-old Tali wakes up screaming in the middle of the night; her Abba must comfort and quiet his daughter while dealing with her fears. Tag to 'Out of the Darkness' 17.01. Precedes 'A Phone Call Out of the Blue.'


Late Night Comforts

_Five-year-old Tali wakes up screaming in the middle of the night; her Abba must comfort and quiet his daughter while dealing with her fears. Tag to 'Out of the Darkness' 17.01. Precedes 'A Phone Call Out of the Blue.'_

"IMA… IMA!" Tali's scream awakened Tony from a deep sleep. He could hear her sobs as he approached her bedroom. He quickly entered the room, his eyes adjusting to the semi-darkness and shadows from the ever-present nightlight. The covers from Tali's bed were in a heap on the floor; stuffed animals strewn everywhere. He had a moment of panic when he didn't see his daughter in her bed.

"Ima…" her cry came from the corner of the room. Tony turned and spotted the little girl curled up in a ball in the corner by her art supplies. "Ima…" the screams had turned to whimpers. He hurried over to the sobbing girl. Knowing that she reacted the same way as her mother to sudden touch, Tony spoke gently before attempting to put his arms around his child.

"Tali, baby girl, Abba is here. Tali? Do you hear me?" he was near enough for her to feel his presence, but not to startle her with touch. "Tali? Is it okay for Abba to hold you?"

Tear-streaked cheeks turned to him; her fists were clenched in her lap. She looked at her father and nodded slowly. "Ken, Abba," she whispered. He wrapped his arms around her and gently rubbed her back as he placed a soft kiss on her curls.

Tali sniffed and shivered against the strong arms and chest that held her. He could feel her heart racing; another nightmare. She had not had one this bad in almost a year. It was times like this that he wanted to scream and be angry at Ziva for leaving. Tali suffered the most from the absence of her Ima. He swallowed the anger for another time. No need for his baby to see the anger; she needed comfort, she needed love, she needed her Ima.

Father and daughter sat on the floor, each finding some comfort in the other, for nearly half an hour; their silent companionship a bond of unity. During that time, Tali had slowly climbed into her Abba's lap and attached herself to his chest. She placed her head over his heart and listened to his heartbeat as she slowly calmed down. Tony smiled a thin smile as he felt her press her head to his chest; so many things his daughter did reminded him of her mother. Ziva had taken comfort from him by putting her head over his heart.

Tali shifted slightly and spoke for the first time since the nightmare. "Abba?" she raised her head slightly to look in his face.

"Yes; Abba is here for you, baby," Tony moved his hand to wipe a stray tear from Tali's cheek.

Tali leaned into his touch, "Do you ever feel her with us? Ima, I mean."

Somewhat taken aback by the question, Tony hesitated before he replied. This was the first time Tali had asked such a question; he wondered what had brought it on, and where she was going with the thought.

"It's like she watches us but we can't see her or she doesn't want us to see her. Abba, sometimes when we are out, I feel like Ima is there; like she is watching us. Why would she just watch and not come to see us? Doesn't she want to be with us?" Tali filled the silence when her father didn't answer immediately.

Tony bit his lip; how in the world would he explain this one to his little girl? He suspected that she had either seen or sensed Ziva's presence several times when they had gone out on "ice cream day." He couldn't tell his baby that he had contrived the weekly outing just so her Ima could get a look at her changing and growing child.

Tali sat up and looked her father directly in the eyes, a tactic he would swear she learned from her mother, if her mother had been there. "Abba, why did Ima have to go away? Why did she leave me all alone?"

Tony realized that Tali was talking about **that** night, and encouraged her to continue by nodding and keeping his eyes fixed on hers.

"We were standing in the trees watching the big fire and Ima kept telling me it would all be okay. She made sure that I had Kelev and then hugged me. She told me '_Ani ohevet otach, yaldati.'_ We watched the fire and then all of a sudden Ima was gone." Tali's tears started anew.

"You were by yourself?" Tony blurted out before thinking; he felt the anger rising again. Ziva had no right to leave his baby girl in the olive grove alone. She must have been terrified out of her mind; no wonder she had nightmares!

"Yes. I looked around for Ima and called to her. Then that lady who brought me to you was there. She told me that I had to come with her; that Ima was gone. I didn't want to leave because Ima might come back and not be able to find me. I cried and tried to stay there to wait for Ima. But the lady said we had to leave. She called a man over to pick me up and carry me to her car. Abba, I was scared. I wanted Ima to come back, but the lady kept saying that Ima was gone. She said that I would get to see my Abba soon." Tali had tears running down her face as she remembered that awful night.

"Oh, baby," Tony pulled his daughter into a hug. "I'm so sorry, Tali. I wish it hadn't happened that way."

"But why, Abba? Why did Ima have to leave?" Tali demanded an answer.

Tony took a deep breath in; he exhaled slowly releasing the waves of anger at Ziva and at Orli. He repeated the breathing exercise and Tali caught on to what he was doing.

"Breathe in, hold, two, three, four; breathe out, two, three, four," she repeated softly. "That's how we calm the panic and anxiety attacks."

Now Tony had tears falling; damn Ziva and her messed up life. Damn the while David family for putting his love and his child into this mess to begin with! Damn! He breathed in and out with his daughter as she counted for both of them. Odd how the roles had shifted tonight.

He took a final deep breath, and spoke. "Tali, remember that I told you that Ima had to go away because bad people were after her and wanted to harm her?" He felt Tali nod against his chest. "Well, Ima sent you to me to keep you safe from those bad people. She loved you so much that she gave up her own safety to make sure you were always safe. Baby girl, Ima loved you so much she sent you to me to keep you safe."

"Do you miss her, too, Abba?"

"Oh, baby, more than words can say. I love your Ima so much it hurts. I would like nothing more than for her to come home to us some day. But I have no idea when, or even if, that day will be." He was honest with her; it felt good to say the things that had weighed on him for the past three plus years. Somehow tonight felt right to tell Tali the things he had kept from her.

"But you want her to come home to us?" Tali put her hand on her father's cheek and wiped at his tears.

"Of course; nothing would make me happier than to have Ima here with us; to make a family with Ima, Abba AND Tali."

Tali nodded at her Abba's words. She thought a minute and then replied, "Can we make a wish, Abba? Not a birthday candles wish, but a bigger wish; like a forever wish."

He had a feeling what her wish would be; was it fair to encourage her to make that wish when his last contact with the subject of that wish had been nearly six months ago? Six long months without a word from the mother of his child; six long months that he had not felt her presence watching them on ice cream day. She had begged him to keep Tali safe; he had begged her to come to them instead of going off to find this Sahar person who was responsible for the firebombing of the farmhouse; who was hell-bent on causing the end of Ziva David. The tearful call had torn his heart to shreds yet again. He had also gotten angry when she told him that Gibbs was now a target, in an attempt to get to Ziva. _'The hell with Gibbs!'_ he had nearly yelled through the secure phone. The only thing that kept his volume down was the sleeping child in the next room. Why should his love put her life in danger for Gibbs? She knew how Gibbs had treated Tony during most of his last year at NCIS; he had told her everything. She knew how callous Gibbs had been about her 'death;' how the man had all but ignored the child of two of his best agents. How Gibbs didn't seem to care that Tony had lost the only woman ever he truly loved, his soulmate…

"Abba?" Tali tapped his face with her hand, bringing her father out of his thoughts. "Can we make the wish? Please?"

"Okay; how about we draw a picture and write the wish on the picture?" Tony liked the idea the minute he said it. Tali moved to her art supplies and pulled out a piece of plain paper and her colored pencils. She motioned him to join her as she turned on the light over her drawing table.

"You color the clothes, okay, Abba?" Tali drew three figures on the paper; the smallest between the two larger ones. She put brown curls on the head of the small shape; then added green eyes. She put the same brown hair, but shorter, and green eyes for her Abba. On her Ima, she put long black curls and brown eyes. She had the hands of the Tali figure holding the hands of the Ima and Abba figures and then the two adults holding hands in front of the whole group. Tony liked that she made a circle of family with her people. She handed him the blue pencil, the red pencil, and the black pencil. "You get blue jeans and a red shirt, Abba. Ima gets black pants and a blue shirt; I get to wear my pink ballerina costume!"

"Yes, ma'am,' Tony grinned at his daughter's selection of clothing. He colored the pants and shirts on the two adults as Tali added her pink leotard and tutu to the small figure. As he finished up with his red shirt, Tali printed names below the figures: 'Ima, Abba, Tali.'

"You write the wish, Abba; the words are too hard for me. _I wish for our family to be all together_." Tali pointed to where she wanted him to write. Tony bit his lip to keep the tears away as he wrote his baby's wish on the picture.

"Okay, now what?" he asked as he finished writing.

"We close our eyes and wish real hard for Ima to come home to us," Tali responded. She took her Abba's hand in hers and held on tightly. "Come home, Ima. We need you! We love you!"

He felt the tears slide from his eyes; if there were anything, any higher power on which he could call, he wished with everything in him that his daughter's wish would be granted to her. Bring his Ninja home; whatever they had to work out between them would get worked out. He just wanted his family whole…


End file.
